Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in

twain!

Ham. O, throw away the worser part of it,

And live the purer with the other half.

160

Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,

Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,

That to the use of actions fair and good

He likewise gives a frock or livery

That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night;
And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
Either subdue the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night
And when you are desirous to be blessed,

171

I'll blessing beg of you. -For this same lord,

[Pointing to POLONIUS

I do repent: but Heaven hath pleas'd it so,
To punish me with this, and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind :
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.-
One word more, good lady.

180

Queen.

What shall I do?

Ham. Not this, by no means, that I bid you

do:

Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;

Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his

mouse;

And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,

Or paddling in your neck with his damned fingers,

Make you to ravel all this matter out,

That I essentially am not in madness,

But mad in craft. "T were good, you let him

know;

190

For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so 1

No, in despite of sense, and secrecy,

Unpeg the basket on the house's top,
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,

And break your own neck down

Queen. Be thou assured, if words be made of

breath

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe

What thou hast said to me.

Ham. I must to England; you know that.
Queen.

I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.

200

Alack, Ham. There's letters sealed: and my two school

fellows,

Whom I will trust, as I will adders fanged, -
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 't is the sport to have the enginer

Hoist with his own petar: and 't shall go hard,

But I will delve one yard below their mines,

210

And blow them at the moon.

O, 't is most sweet,

When in one line two crafts directly meet.-
This man shall set me packing!

I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.-
Mother, good night. - Indeed, this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.-
Good night, mother.

"Exeunt severally; HAMLET dragging in
POLONIUS

ACT IV.

SCENE L-The Same.

Enter KING, QUEEN, ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDEN

STERN.

King. There's matter in these sighs, these pro

found heaves

You must translate; 'tis fit we understand them. Where is your son

Queen. Bestow this place on us a little while. [Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN. -Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night! King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet ? Queen. Mad as the sea and wind when both

contend

Which is the mightier. In his lawless fit,

Behind the arras hearing something stir,

He whips his rapier out, and cries, 'A rata

rat!'

And, in this brainish apprehension, kills

The unseen good old man.

King.

O heavy deed!

It had been so with us had we been there.

His liberty is full of threats to all ;
To you yourself, to us, to every one.

10

Alas! how shall this bloody deed be answered ?
It will be laid to us, whose providence

Should have kept short, restrained, and out of

haunt,

This mad young man; but, so much was our

love,

We would not understand what was most fit; 20

But, like the owner of a foul disease,

To keep it from divulging, let it feed

Even on the pith of life. Where is he gone?

Queen. To draw apart the body he hath

killed;

O'er whom his very madness, like some ore
Among a mineral of metals base,

Shows itself pure: he weeps for what is done.
King. O Gertrude, come away.

The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch
But we will ship him hence; and this vile deed 30
We must, with all our majesty and skill,
Both countenance and excuse. - Ho, Guildenstern!

Re-enter ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN.

Friends both, go join you with some further aid.

Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his mother's closet hath he dragged